Subpoenas Sought for Urell, Urell’s Attorneys

While OC Weekly cover boy Monsignor John Urell is in Canada to presumably get his rocks back in order, the Jeff Andrade matter trudges on. The latest twist: Urell’s lawyer is busy fighting a subpoena filed against the two of them filed by Newport Beach attorney John Manly.

In a letter dated Sept. 25, Urell personal attorney Peter Hennessey tries to plead innocence and ignorance as to why he should be deposed. “I am not aware of any legitimate basis supporting your trial subpoena of a non-party witness’s attorney,” Hennessey wrote to Manly. “I was not a witness to any of the events involved in the underlying litigation.” As for Urell, Hennessey repeats what he has told the world—“unavailable for medical reasons.”

Manly, on his part, noted Hennessey’s inconsistent public chronology of Urell’s breakdown with the truth in his response. “Your statements are the only explanation as to why Msgr. Urell has gone to Southdown [Gustavo’s note: the Canadian psychological facility where Urell sought treatment for “acute anxiety”] in contempt of court,” Manly wrote. “As such, you are a witness in the case.”

But Manly doesn’t end there. He alludes to a previous post of mine in stating that “the OC Weekly’s description of your story which involved ‘cheese grits’ was most apt.

“On a personal note,” Manly concludes, “I fully expect this type of third-rate transparently bogus cover story from the Catholic hierarchy and those who have made a living defending pedophiles. I am shocked that your firm would permit itself to be involved in this perversion of the civil discovery process.”

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!